[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13288-H13289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SUPPORT THE RESOLUTION TO KEEP THE CONGRESS IN SESSION ON SUNDAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Mascara] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MASCARA. Mr. Speaker, the people of the 20th Congressional 
District sent me here to serve, not to give up and go home. That is why 
I am pleased to stand with my fellow Democratic freshmen Members and 
support the resolution seeking to keep the Congress in session on 
Sunday; that is, after attending Mass.
  While my wife, Dolores, and I enjoy returning to our district to be 
with our family and friends, and especially with my Aunt Jennie and 
Uncle Frank Flora, both of whom are seniors and who depend on Medicare 
and Social Security, while we know that is important, we cannot go home 
when 28,000 seniors per day cannot file for Social Security or 
disability benefits, or when 200,000 people per day call the Social 
Security 800 number and get no answer. We cannot go home when almost 
8,000 veterans per day, those who stood for this country and served it 
in times of war, file claims for service-connected disability benefits, 
pensions, or the Montgomery G.I. Bill educational benefits.
  Mr. Speaker, the situation is very serious. Eight hundred thousand 
Federal workers all across this country have been furloughed. They are 
nervous and anxious, and beginning to wonder if 

[[Page H 13289]]
they are going to be able to meet their next mortgage payment, or a car 
payment. It is hardly fair that Members of Congress, whose pay is 
secure, go home for the weekend and leave these workers hanging out to 
dry.
  Mr. Speaker, as a story in this morning's Washington Post clearly 
pointed out, ``The shutdown is beginning to have a ripple effect.'' 
That is throughout the country. ``Government contractors have not been 
paid, and they are beginning to lay off workers. None of the national 
museums are open here in Washington, DC, and the national parks across 
the country are losing millions of dollars in tourist trades every day 
as this drags on.''
  We must, we must settle this budget dispute, and we have to do it in 
a bipartisan fashion. We are never going to sit down and work out a 
fair, balanced agreement if we just throw our marbles into the pot and 
go home. That is not right. That is not right. We need to stay, and we 
need to stay until we can get the job done.

  I know there are freshman Democrats and freshman Republicans, both of 
whom, behind the scenes, have tried to put together some language that 
would be acceptable to both sides, but we need, we need to settle this 
matter at once.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from 
Maine [Mr. Baldacci].
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maine is recognized for 
1\1/2\ minutes.


  the democrat-sponsored resolution; congress should stay in session 
                      until it completes its work

  Mr. BALDACCI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the good gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Mascara], for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, we are trying to say as a group that we were elected to 
serve the public. We were elected to serve all of the public, 
Republican, Democrat, and Independent, and there are people who are out 
of work. There are veterans with disability payments that need to have 
their eligibility reviewed. There are people who are trying to visit 
Acadia National Park in Maine and many other national treasures that 
are told that it is closed.
  This Government is shut down, people are laid off, and we feel that 
we should be working here because people are not working because of the 
actions of this body and the entire Congress, so we feel very strongly 
that we would rather keep working to try to bring about a resolution 
than trying to go back and forth, and trying to resolve this problem 
once and for all.
  That is in the interests of all the people, whatever their ideologies 
are, to work together for that resolution, because every day we miss it 
seems like it is just that much further behind that we get. I think 
that is really what we are trying to achieve here.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BALDACCI. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, I do not understand this. We passed a 
continuing resolution in the House. Obviously, the House spoke. The 
gentleman did not vote for it, as I understand that, but 48 of your 
colleagues did. We passed it. The Senate has passed it. What more work 
is there to do? The President has said he is going to veto it. What 
else is there to do with that? We have done our work.
  Mr. BALDACCI. We will continue that maybe a little bit later.

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